


Liverwurst and Buttermilk

by ChelRae94



Category: Detroit: Become Human (Video Game)
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Hurt/Comfort, Literal White Christmas just gay lmao, Lots of Fluffy Romace, M/M, Mixed POV, Multi, Self-Indulgent, Slow Burn, Time Period: 50's but gay, idk this was just for fun
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-02-25
Updated: 2019-03-05
Packaged: 2019-11-05 16:42:15
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,821
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17922521
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ChelRae94/pseuds/ChelRae94
Summary: Hank and Gavin follow two brothers to Pine Tree, Vermont for music, adventure, and love. DBH White Christmas AU.





	1. Bullet

**Author's Note:**

> Whether you've seen the movie or not, I hope you enjoy this fic! This is the first time I've written anything since 2012, so please be gentle with me! Also this was purely out of self indulgence and fun. I don't have a rating on it because there may or may not be smut in this later, I haven't decided yet. Please enjoy!

Hank, by all accounts, was a simple man. He only ever wanted to make music and make people happy. And he did, as a teenager, start writing music. He didn’t perform too much, he preferred to stay behind the scenes and write, but he went into the spotlight every now and then. And when he did, he packed music halls and venues no matter the state.

Eventually though, he got a bit tired of the limelight, and decided to help people in a different way. He became a cop, and a good one at that. Moved from detective to lieutenant in only a year, and he loved it. And as much as they fought, he liked his partner, Gavin Reed. They worked well together, and Hank was the only person who could stand his ass. And, despite what people said, he was a damn good cop.

Until the day they weren’t cops anymore.

Gavin and Hank had been on a call, and Gavin had taken a bullet for Hank in the arm. Hank felt awful, and Gavin was going to use that to his advantage.

Hank went to visit Gavin in the hospital, bringing a small thing of flowers. He set them down with a sigh. “Hey, Gav, how are you holding up?,” he said softly. Gavin let out a sigh, knowing full well he was about to milk this if he could. “I...I suppose I’m fine,” he groaned, accentuating his words with a small, fake cough. “I’ve been better, though.”

Hank sat down next to the bed, watching him. “Well, as soon as you’re all healed up, the doctor said you’d be able to come back to work.”

“Yeah, well, about that,” he murmured, absently scratching the scar on his nose. “I’ve been thinking…”

“That’s never a good sign,” Hank grumbled.

“Shut up, Anderson. I think I’m gonna retire. I’ve been doing this for a couple years now, and I wanna do something different. You were saying the other day you were thinking of retiring and going back into show business, right?”

Hank raised an eyebrow. “Yeah, maybe. What are you thinking?”

“Well, I...I wanna get into show business too, and I happen to have a great song that you could add to your show,” he beamed, pulling out some papers and handing them to Hank, who took them to look over the lyrics. “Well, this is a duet, it’s for two people.” Gavin nodded happily. “Exactly, it needs two dynamite entertainers!”

Hank gave a small, dry chuckle. “I work alone, I do a single. Who do you figure for the other hunk of dynamite?”

Gavin shrugged. “Oh well, uh...you know, I know a guy, he’s pretty funny, has a good voice, uhm,” he cleared his throat, looking back up at Hank. “How ‘bout me?”

“Listen Reed, I...I’ve always done singles, I work alone,” he gave a small, awkward huff of laughter, rubbing the back of his neck as he stood.

Gavin’s smile fell and he fiddled with the edge of the hospital blanket. “Oh no, it’s alright, Lieutenant, I...I wouldn’t want you to feel any sort of special obligation or anything,” he mumbled, using his free hand to rub over his injured arm.

Hank watched him, rolling his eyes before sighing. “Alright, Dynamite, we’ll give it a whirl.”

 

*****

It wasn’t long before Gavin and Hank were on the road, traveling from city to city to produce and perform their own music, and soon enough Anderson and Reed were storming the country. Not only were they writing music for themselves, but they were writing for small musicals as well. Even produced and directed their own, with Gavin always guilt tripping Hank with the ‘bullet in the arm’ every time he and the older man disagreed on something.

The one thing they always argued about, however, was Gavin trying to set Hank up. Which never seemed to end.

Hank walked backstage with Gavin after a show, pulling one of the assistants aside. “Hey, were you able to get that notice written up for the cast?,” he asked, using a dry cloth to wipe the sweat from his forehead and the back of the neck.

The assistant nodded. “Show lays off tonight, everyone gets two weeks off with pay. Everyone’s saying it’s the nicest Christmas present they ever had.”

Hank smiled softly. “Well they all deserve it, they’ve worked hard. Were you able to get the tickets?”

“It was a little rough with the holiday traffic, but I pulled a few strings. Got two tickets for the 1am New York train on the way right now,” the assistant smiled happily. “I’ll bring them to your dressing room when they get here.”

Hank nodded and clapped a large hand to the young man’s shoulder. “Thank you, go ahead and put that notice on the bulletin board, if you will. And let everyone know we’ll be in Radio City in New York if anyone needs to get ahold of us.”

Hank began heading to the dressing room, pausing when he heard Gavin’s voice. “Hey Hank, can I see you for a second?” Hank rolled his eyes and walked over, letting Gavin lead him to where two of the male backup dancers were standing at a vanity after changing. Gavin beamed and stood with Hank. “You know Allen, friend of Chris,” Gavin motioned.

Hank sighed. “Another one, huh?,” he said softly so only Gavin could hear, then turned to Allen with a smile and an outstretched hand. “Hi, how are you?”

“Mutual, I’m sure,” the man all but purred, smiling a bit slyly. Hank blinked over at Gavin, his face having ‘what the hell’ written all over it.

Gavin cleared his throat. “Well, I thought before the train leaves, maybe the four of us could go out to eat, have a few laughs or something,” he smiled, trying to encourage Hank.

But Hank wasn’t having it. Gavin had been doing this more and more, trying harder and harder to get Hank set up with some lithe twink who cared more about advancing their career than any actual romance. And that wasn’t what Hank wanted.

The older man shook his head. “Ah, I’m afraid I can’t make it. And you can’t either, Gavin, we’ve got business to take care of. We’ve gotta go look at an act.” He turned back to Allen and offered a smile. “Maybe some other time,” he murmured before walking into their shared dressing room.

Allen huffed and turned back around to the mirror. “Well how do you like that!”

Chris did the same, spinning around to fuss in the mirror again. “Listen Reed, that’s the last time I dig up a date for him! You can do your own dirty work from now on.”

Gavin only sighed, following Hank into the dressing room. “Listen Anderson, I think we need to have a talk,” he grumbled as they began to undress and pack.

“Yeah, I believe we do, and I’ll start,” Hank looked at him. “For the past 3 months you’ve been trying to throw me at every Tom, Dick, and Harry that you meet. As long as they’ve got a nice body and still breathing, you don’t care!”

“It’s for your own good, Hank! Let’s face it, you’re a lonely, miserable man. And you’re unhappy! And when you’re unhappy, I’m unhappy,” he nodded as if to punctuate his point. “I feel like I’ve got a strong sense of responsibility towards you, Hank, ever since I…” he brought his hand up to rub over his once injured arm.

“Oh no, don’t go pulling that savior shit on me again!” Hank laughed out.

Gavin looked at him, pulling his sad eyes. “Well, I mean...if you’d rather forget it…”

“How can I, you won’t let me! Ever since you saved my life, you’ve decided you have the right to run it. You’ve hammered, pushed, shoved, and guilt tripped me every step of the way. And if that wasn’t enough, you always look at me with those big dopey eyes, point at that arm of yours, and I melt and go along.” Hank sighed as he sat down, putting a different pair of shoes on. “So I’d enjoy it if you could leave the rest of my life alone! I’m a very happy man.”

“Well then you’re happy for the wrong reasons and that’s the same as being lonely and miserable, except it’s worse,” Gavin snapped. “You think you’ve got everything you could ever want, except the most important thing. A man!”

“Listen, why are you so worried about this anyway?” Hank snapped back. “Every time you say you’re doing something for me, there’s always some sort of angle in it for you.”

“You really wanna know?”

“Yeah, Gav, I really wanna know!”

“Ever since we became producers, you’re a changed man. All you care about is work, you throw yourself into it and you don’t give yourself any time for anything else! And when you’re working, I’m working. If anything, if you find some boy toy to screw around with, I might get at least a good 45 minutes all to myself.”

Hank ran a hand over his face, sitting at the dressing room vanity to run a comb through his beard and slick his hair back again. It wasn’t that he hadn’t thought about settling down, it was just that it had never felt right with any of the people he had dated in the past.

“Listen Gav, I’m too old for that stuff now. Nobody wants an old man like me, especially not the sort of guys I’m into. Besides, you know how most of these young men are, they...they’re not worried about settling down or starting families. Maybe the right guy will come along someday, and once he does I’ll start setting more time aside. 45 minutes gonna be enough for you?” He grinned over at him.

Gavin laughed. “If I need more, I’ll let you know.”

They heard a knock on the door, the assistant coming in and smiling. “Here’s your tickets, sirs,” he offered them up to Gavin, who took them and put them in the inside pocket of his suit jacket.

“Alright, Gav, we’ll go to the train station right after we go audition this brother act,” he stood to put on some cologne and fix his bow tie.

Gavin wrinkled his nose as he fixed his own bow tie. “Brother act, we don’t need a brother act! What the hell are we going to see them for?”

Hank sighed. “Well, I got a letter from Conrad Arkait, they’re his two older brothers. You remember Conrad, yeah?”

Gavin blinked. “Freckle-Face Conrad? He’s got brothers?”

“Guess so.”

“Hank will you do me one favor? Give me one good reason why we should spend our last night in Florida looking at the brothers of Conrad ‘Freckle-Face’ Arkait.”

“I guess you could say we’re doing it for an old pal on the force, okay?,” he hummed out, fixing up his suit jacket and putting his panama hat on.

“Well,” Gavin grinned. “It’s not good, but it’s a reason.”


	2. Florida

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Anderson and Reed meet the Arkait brothers at a club on the coast of Florida

Hank and Gavin walked into Novello’s, one of the smaller clubs on the Florida coast, and Hank greeted the owner, shaking his hand.

“Mr. Anderson, Mr. Reed, it’s a pleasure to see you, it’s been far too long,” Novello smiled.

Hank clapped a large hand on Novello’s shoulder while Gavin greeted him. “Hey, Novello, it’s good to see you too. Say, have the Arkait brothers been on yet?”

Novello checked his watch. “They’ll be on in about 15 minutes.”

“Great, will you let them know that we’re here to see them? Got a letter from their brother about checking them out.” Novello nodded, showing them to their table before heading in the back.

The dressing rooms were a decent size, a double sided vanity on one side of the room and a large closet on the other. The brothers’ luggage was pushed against the wall facing the coast, and the elegant floor lamps were lit to illuminate the space where Connor was busy trying to get his curls to behave with no avail. He stood when he heard a knock, turning towards the door. “Come in!”

Novello popped his head in, his smile wide. “Hey guys, Anderson and Reed are out front!”

Connor blinked, giving a small gasp. “What? Anderson and Reed?!”

“Yeah,” Novello nodded excitedly. “Said they got a letter from Conrad about coming to see you since they were in town and giving you some advice for the show. You’d better hurry,” he said with a smile before leaving.

Niles closed the door, turning to Connor and trying to look innocent. “Well, isn’t that wonderful! Anderson and Reed here to see us!”

Connor looked at Niles a little suspiciously. “Yeah...wonderful…”

“Who would’ve thought that of Conrad, that’s so sweet, what a wonderful thing!” Niles smiled as he began to change for the number.

“Yeah you keep saying that,” Connor murmured, also starting to change. “I wonder what gave him the idea.”

Niles shrugged, still trying to feign innocence. “Well, he probably knew we were in town, and we wouldn’t want to take advantage of an old friendship-”

“Say Niles,” Connor cleared his throat, cutting his brother’s words off. “Did you read Amanda’s letter this morning?”

“Uhm…no, I haven’t yet. Why do you ask?”

Connor’s eyebrow raised. “Conrad’s got a job in Alaska. He’s been there for 3 months.”

Niles froze for a moment, trying to think of something to say. He had been caught.

“Niles, why did you write the letter? And why didn’t you tell me?”

“Listen Connor, it’s just good business. You can’t leave everything up to fate. Sometimes these things just need a little...push,” he nodded, feeling a bit proud of himself.

Connor sighed. “Okay well, next time can you tell me what you’re doing before you push us right out of show business?” He finished dressing, moving to put on his nice shoes and some cologne. Niles moved over, voice soft as he fixed Connor’s bow tie. “Connor, you sound just like a mother hen looking after a little chick…”

Connor’s eyes warmed a bit, watching him with a smile. His brother always had a tendency to be a bit of a trouble maker, but Connor would do anything to make sure Niles was happy and safe. “Well, apparently this little chick needs looking after, or he’ll get into trouble. And until someone can come along and do it better, this mother hen is staying close to the coop.”

Niles shook his head, chuckling softly. He and his two brothers had been adopted at a young age by Amanda, a stern but loving mother figure for the boys. And as close as he and Conrad were, Connor had always kept an especially close on Niles.

They finished getting ready, and Niles moved over to look at Connor in the mirror. “You look absolutely stunning, he’ll be crazy about you.”

Connor gave a laugh. “Which one?”

“Does it matter, they’re both famous.” Niles gave a grin and a wink, Connor giving another laugh before they went to get on stage.

 

*****

 

Hank and Gavin sat at the table, just chatting and waiting. Finally, the band started up and the conductor turned to smile at the audience. “Ladies and gentleman, the Arkait brothers!” Everyone clapped, and finally the two men stepped into the spotlight as they began to sing.

Hank was immediately drawn to the shorter of the two, his deep brown eyes seeming so kind and tender. Hank leaned forward in his chair a bit, transfixed. And Gavin would’ve noticed if he wasn’t busy doing the same thing to the taller of the two. Those ice blue eyes had pierced Gavin through his chest and hooked him on the spot.

“Wow, would you look at those blue eyes?” Gavin said a bit dreamily.

Hank shook his head, a little distracted. “Uh-uh. They’re brown”

“No, they’re blue.”

“Brown.”

Gavin looked over, seeing Hank looking a the shorter brother in a way that Gavin had never seen Hank look at anyone before. He grinned to himself. Maybe this wouldn’t be such a bad way to spend their last night after all.

 

*****

 

Connor and Niles quickly changed, feeling nervous and excited as they moved over to the table and said their hello’s. The tension between the four of them was strange, but it still felt oddly familiar.

Connor smiled politely at them. “It was so nice of you two to come out and see us. I’m Connor, and this is my brother Niles. You must be Reed and Anderson,” he said, slowly looking between them.

Hank chuckled softly, watching Connor while he spoke. “Guilty on both counts. You know, that was quite an act! Conrad never mentioned that he comes from such a talented family.”

Connor’s cheeks pinked softly. Oh no, Hank had such beautiful blue eyes and a deep voice and a perfect little gap in his smile. Connor was hooked. “Oh, well, to be honest-”

“Well, Conrad probably didn’t want to take advantage of an old friendship, you know how modest he is,” Niles cut Connor off before he could say anything, and Connor gave a small shake of the head.

He could see how Niles was trying not to stare at Gavin, and that Gavin seemed to be doing the same. Although their eyes were roaming over each others faces in a...dreamy sort of way. Connor had never seen Niles look at someone this way, and he couldn’t tell if he was happy or worried. 

While Connor was studying the two men, Gavin seemed to shake a feeling as he turned to face them again. “Speaking of families, I was reading an article recently about uh...citrus fruit and how it affects children’s teeth. Are you interested in children or families, Mr. Arkait?”

Connor blinked, but nodded. “I...yeah, I suppose so.”

The look on Gavin’s face made Hank wanna kick him under the table. He knew what Gavin was trying to do.

“Well. A young man in show business that wants to settle down and have a family. Isn’t it refreshing?”

Hank simply rolled his eyes, somehow keeping it well hidden as Niles turned his attention back to Connor and Hank. “Well, I for one would love some free advice.” He smiled. “Mr. Anderson, do you have any suggestions for the act?”

“Not really, I thought it was great! Just keep plugging.”

“Oh, there must be something, Mr. Anderson. Maybe Connor’s hair should go a shade lighter? Maybe make it a different style?”

Hank turned to face Connor, his eyes regarding the younger man as they traveled over his hair and face and chest. God, Hank really shouldn’t be looking at him like this, but he couldn’t help it. He was perfectly pale, with a beautiful scattering of freckles and moles, and lips that Hank couldn’t stop looking at. “No,” he said softly, eyes warm as they finally found Connor’s. “I wouldn’t change a thing.”

Connor’s cheeks were pink, and he smiled softly. Before he could say anything, Gavin cleared his throat and stood to hold his hand out to Niles. “Would you care to dance, Mr. Arkait?” Niles beamed and nodded, taking Gavin’s hand and letting himself be swept on to the dance floor.

Hank sat with Connor in a small, comfortable silence, watching the other two men dance. “They do look well together, don’t they? I gotta say, I sure was surprised to get Conrad’s letter. It was nice to hear from him.”

Connor looked down at the table, sipping his wine. “Mr. Anderson, I need to be completely honest with you, and let you know that you were brought here under false pretenses. Conrad didn’t write that letter, Niles did. He thought that you wouldn’t come if we asked, but you might if Conrad did.”

Hank sighed, giving a tired chuckle. “Would you look at that. Even Niles’ got an angle.”

“No, Mr. Anderson, he didn’t mean anything by it!”

“You don’t have to apologize, everyone’s got an angle,” he chuckled dryly.

Connor looked at him, eyes a bit cold. “Well, Mr. Anderson, that’s a pretty cynical point of view. And seeing as our chances of meeting again are slim to none, I don’t think it would do us much good to argue about it.”

Hank raise an eyebrow, then lifted his drink. “Well, I’ll drink to that.”

“Be my guest.” Connor’s words were sarcastic, a fake smile plastered on his face.

 

*****

 

Gavin and Niles had been watching the other two men, dancing slowly against each other and whispering to themselves.

Gavin laughed. “If this keeps up, we’ll be in laws by tomorrow.”

“I don’t mind if you don’t.” Niles chuckled and let himself be led around the dance floor by Gavin, getting swept up in the dancing. Gavin was funny and mischievous and made Niles feel a way he never had before about another person. He looked at Niles like he was the only thing Gavin ever wanted to look at again.

Gavin knew they should get back to the table, but he couldn’t think of anything other than dancing with Niles. He was tall and broad and Gavin felt...safe?

 

Suddenly, Connor was standing next to them and they slowed to a stop.

“What’s this, the best two out of three?” Connor raised an eyebrow, watching them warily. Hank seemed too rough around the edges, and he didn’t know if Gavin would be the same way.

Niles blushed and smiled. “Sorry, it seems I got a little carried away…”

“Yeah, and he...carried me right along with him, I don’t weigh very much.” Gavin looked up at Niles and chuckled softly.

Connor looked between them, then sighed. “Come on, Niles, we have to get ready for our next song.” Niles nodded and began to follow Connor with a wave to Gavin, but they were stopped short by Novello.

“Hey, the sheriff is in my office right now with a warrant to arrest the two of you!”

Gavin looked between them. “The sheriff? What’s the trouble?”

Niles sighed. “The landlord at the hotel tried to say we burned a hole in the rug and is trying to hold us up for 200 dollars. Not to mention we snuck our bags out this morning.”

“Where’s your bags? In your dressing room?”

Niles nodded. “Yeah that’s right.”

“Alright, you two go pack, Hank and I will take care of it,” Gavin said with a smile.

Connor blushed. “Oh no, we can’t ask you to go through all that trouble, Mr. Anderson already thinks-”

“Now listen, don’t worry about Mr. Anderson, we like to take care of our friends. Go get packed up and we’ll figure this out.”

“We’re practically strangers, what’s in it for you?” Connor’s brows furrowed.

Gavin grinned. “45 minutes all to myself.”


End file.
